White House Honey Ale so far a disgusting disaster

Northern Brewer General
1

Hello all,

I brewed a batch of White House Honey Ale from NB earlier this month, and bottled 10 days ago. I kept everything sterile and sanitized through out the whole process, and always make sure to Star San, and I ALWAYS leave foam and never rinse. My fermenting temperatures, which I do in my closet stay at about 55-65 degrees during the winter. I did primary fermenting with a liquid yeast pack (which I absolutely do not like using) for 2 weeks, secondary for a week, then bottled.

I opened a bottle of this beer tonight and poured it into a glass, and was immediately disgusted by the extremely potent, strong alcohol smell. There’s a light carbonation in the glass, but not enough to create a head or anything. Then I dared to take a sip, and the taste was…Let me think how to describe it…Sour/Potent Alcohol/Weird…Haha, not sure. Didn’t taste like a honey ale whatsoever. The color of it is also very cloudy and hazy…maybe thats what its supposed to look like? I’d have to imagine it should be clearer.

Like a dummy I forgot to take a OG test, but I’m pretty sure the gravity is not the issue here. If anyone has any advice, or thinks I need to dump all my bottles out, would love to hear your input. Thanks everybody :frowning:


2

It’s possible that the honey in the beer requires a little time to mellow out. Almost every beer I used to make with honey (I don’t use honey in beer anymore) tasted like rocket fuel when it was young. You might just leave it in the bottles for a bit and see how it tastes a month from now, 2 months, 3 months, etc. If you did everything right, you might be rewarded with some very smooth & yummy honey ale.

3

hey rhanson, I have run into the same issue as you. I was wondering if you had any luck with the batch. I am currently at 10 day since bottling any advice wind be helpful. Thanks

4

what ken said…i’ve finally figured out to not even touch beer until it’s been bottled for 3 weeks…minimum

5

I haven’t tried the WH honey ale, but I did brew the WH honey porter. After two weeks in bottles it was drinkable, but there was a fairly strong alcohol presence. A couple of months later it has mellowed out quite a bit and become much more enjoyable. Give it some time and try one again in a month or so.